I’d read and very much enjoyed the Phlebotomist by Panatier and several of his short stories, but this is a step up. Stringers is witty, often hilarious, poignant, engrossing, gross, imaginative and has a cast of unforgettable characters.

The concept of Stringers is revealed over the book so it would be a spoiler to say much about why it’s called that but the general idea of the main character having a voice in his head that tells him useless facts about bug sex will give you an idea of what the mystery revolves around. The snarky conversation between him and his brain takes place in footnotes, which are brilliantly handled. The pacing could easily have been thrown off by those but Panatier knows what he’s doing and the footnotes provide much of the humour. If you are like me, you will find yourself wanting to look things up for more details – fortunately, the chapters are pacey and often switch point of view to another character, so if you want to nip off and google something, you can.

Panatier isn’t all about the jokes, though there is a lot of humour (“Bum budda budda bum bum,” is a direct quote - can you name the hit song the rhythm comes from?). The exploration of little and large heroisms as opposed to a mercenary approach to life (you’ll see what I did there) is crucial to this novel and will leave you with plenty to think about, with those thoughts hung on those great characters and that roaring plot. Not to be missed. I miss it already.

This is just my opinion, but its a perfectly okay book - but nothing like hitchhikers as other reviews are saying. Its not really got much humour. Its a fine story, just not amazing either. The writing little tid-bits in the highlights/margins etc is fine, how-ever tails off the further you get into the book. Which was dissapointing.

Stringers is a fun, sci-fi adventure novel that reminds me of Russian Doll and Aliens wrapped up in a comedic style adventure that would be perfect for a TV show. It’s episodic in length and has great prose that carries the story forward. Its world-building is a little complex, but you will get the hang of it. Carrying many influences from Micheal Jackson to so many sci-fi references, this novel is a stringer indeed!

The other aspect of this novel is this novel is all about a man who has a fondness for describing how insects have sex with each other and going into very vivid details. It’s also about a man warming his pickles. That’s about as much as I’ll say of it. The story is funny, and man this is what if A Memory Called Peace – which was a great novel, this is what would the parodic version of this would be.

It’s a funny novel, and the novel does have sometimes its fair share of nitpicks – maybe a little bit too much worldbuilding in some areas, some over-detailed explanations in others, maybe a few scenes could have been paced better. But look, to write a novel of this scale requires serious time, effort and a lot of detail. You really need to get this novel now!

Panatier is clearly a gifted writer with an unusual way of looking at the world. I haven’t read his debut novel, The Phlebotomist, as my book blogging buddies confirmed that it is on the horror side of dark – and right now, I cannot deal with that. But once I’m better, it’s definitely on my ‘To Read’ list. This one, however, is right up my alley. Poor old Ben is on track to be one of the most unusual of this year’s protagonists that I’ll encounter. He’s afflicted with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the mating habits of insects, along with all sorts of other details regarding their lives. I learnt – thanks to one of the many, many footnotes – about the Australian Peacock spider, known as the ‘sparklemuffin’, which has now become a term of endearment in our household. Look it up – it is the most fantastical little creature.

The trouble is, that from the time he could talk, Ben is driven to share these facts, along with his other hyper-obsession about watches, with anyone and everyone who’ll listen. As well as those who won’t. It doesn’t win him friends, or even make him a particularly nice person. Although, he has got a friend – dear Patton, who has to be one of the kindest people I’ve encountered in a book, without coming across as unbearable. Indeed, Patton insists on accompanying Ben when he goes to meet up with someone who professes to suffer from the same problem. Quite rightly, Patton suspects a trap and wants to be there to look out for his buddy.

It doesn’t come as a massive surprise when they’re abducted by an alien, who is going to sell Ben for the contents in his head. There is also a parallel narrative about an alien pipe-fitter called Naecia, who has suffered the same fate. The resulting adventure takes us on a familiar journey with nasty, destructive aliens and a bunch of plucky protagonists trying to save the galaxy. So far, so familiar. What sets this one apart is Panatier’s quirky writing style, riddled with jokey allusions and footnotes, many of which are genuinely funny. Some… not so much. I enjoyed much of the humour and a lot of the nerdy scientific stuff – this one is on the harder side of sci fi genre – and all of the character development, which is outstanding.

I did feel that the pace stuttered a tad about two-thirds of the way through. Some of the humour by then was a bit annoyingly predictable, while I felt the techie details around what was going wrong and how to fix it got a tad too involved. However, Panatier managed to land the ending in a wonderfully poignant way that will stick in my memory for a very long time. So although this wasn’t a flawless read, it’s one that will definitely stay with me. And I’m looking forward to seeing what this clever, original writer does next. While I obtained an arc of Stringers from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.

9/10

Stringers by Chris Panatier was the perfect read to get my spacey/alieny juices flowing. Set in the present day, it follows reclusive Ben and his stoner buddy, Patton on an intergalactic adventure. They are thrust into a struggle to save entire galaxies, a struggle that they are… uniquely qualified for.

Ben has a condition that’s plagued him his entire life. He knows things, lots of things, but he has no clue how. His poor brain is stuffed full of knowledge that he didn’t study, didn’t learn. It’s just there, and it has always been there. Unfortunately, that knowledge is oddly specific and not terribly helpful. He knows a staggering amount of facts about watches and the reproductive behavior of insects. Yup. Go figure.

Patton? He knows a lot about recreational drug use.

The two friends are abducted by a bounty hunter and whisked off to the far corners of the galaxy. The reason why is that odd knowledge stuffed into Ben’s head. It turns out that Ben is a Stringer, and Stringers fetch a handsome price on the open intergalactic market. The bounty hunter has collected other Stringers as well, but his attempt to sell them goes awry and mayhem ensues.

What I truly loved about this book was its dichotomous nature. On the one hand, it gets meta AF. Seriously. The main theme deals with the origin of consciousness and self-awareness. Put on your philosophy hat, because that shit gets deep. On the other hand, it is delightfully funny. Laugh-out-loud funny. Panatier’s wit shines in the writing and makes every page enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this book, after I got into it. I read the sample and that was interesting and enough for me to buy the book. Then in the next 20 or 30 pages I started to think I would regret my decision. But I persevered, and then eventually the book really started to explain what it was about and got much more detailed and much more interesting. There are some compelling sci-fi elements that I haven't encountered exactly this way before, and the plot moved swiftly. It's a good combination of personal character story and big picture sci-fi elements that span huge swaths of time and space.

Stringers is a wild, hilarious, suspenseful ride through space with nothing less than the fate of trillions of lives on the line. You might very well spend the first 15 pages thinking "wait, what the heck are we talking about right now?" Or "isn't this a sci-fi book? Is the science really all about fly fishing?" but once you get in, you'll be completely hooked. An unpredictable page-turner from start to finish. Honestly, when it's over, you'll wish it wasn't. Definitely NSFW; read it somewhere you feel comfortable laughing out loud.

First, I have no idea why people keep comparing this to the Hitchhikers Guide. It’s a completely different animal. But. If I had to compare to another book/author, it would be Andy Weir’s novels. If you like The Martian, Artemis, Hail Mary, you’ll like Stringers. Fun, irreverent, action-packed, great use of first-person narrative. Anyways, Stringers is a great adventure story. Pick it up.

If braingasm isn’t a word yet, it should be - because that’s the effect of reading Panatier’s latest book - and if I smoked, I’d be lying in bed now with a cigarette dangling from my fingers and a satisfied smile on my face… I had so much fun and sheer pleasure reading a book that involved bugs, pickles, aliens and more - wow. The pacing was great, the characters were full and the story was shockingly unique and drew me in from the first page. I’m not going to do a synopsis of all the things I liked - just buy the book and enjoy the ride!